Archive for the ‘Product Reviews’ Category:

This is a common question from students. Unfortunately, with one exception, the answer is not easy. The simple answer is the gun you will carry and practice with. Other than that…well, it gets more complex. Most of us started at the range, trying different calibers, models. What fits my hand may not fit your hand. Some like revolvers, some like semi-0 auto, some like 1911. I’ve seen slim women effectively conceal a full size .40 and other struggle with a mini.
First step is what you are comfortable shooting. Once you have your firearm, then look at your attire, and Read More >>

The Outdoor Channel’s The Best Defense is hosted by Mike Seeklander, Michael Bane and Michael Janich. I record this show and watch it multiple times because I found that watching an episode once isn’t enough, I catch something new each time.
Great Program, Great Folks, and Great Training!
Is your Front Sight Dull?
Check out Hi-Viz sights! I just had one put on my Glock 19, and I love the contrast and brightness. You might be able to do it yourself, but I had a Glock Armorer do it for me. I love the green, but there are other colors and I can swap out the green for orange Read More >>

At Shot Show 2014 Media Day at the Range the vendors bring out lots of guns, mostly new models, and provide ammunition to allow us the chance to shoot. Think of it as Disneyland for shooters.
Remington gave me a chance to use a 12 gauge and try shooting clays. I’m a pistol shooter, slowly getting into the long guns. Bottom line, the clays had nothing to fear. They flew, I fired and watched each of them sail quietly to the ground, fully intact. I watched other, more experienced shooters, take on the clays. I could see the appeal, watching the clay shatter in mid-air. I think Read More >>

Glock introduced their single stack .380 compact pistol. I had to opportunity to see it at Shot Show in Las Vegas recently. I also had the chance to shoot it. Slightly larger than a Ruger LCP, it fit reasonably well in the hand, it is a small, but not tiny, gun. It shot smoothly, in true Glock fashion. While many expressed the wish that Glock would introduce a single stack 9mm, it appears that they felt the need to introduce a “pocket pistol” to meet the perceived market demand. While not my first choice for a carry gun, this was much easier to shoot than the Ruger LCP, and slightly Read More >>

The new version of the Kriss Vector has an adjustable stock, making it easier to control. At Shot Show, those of us fortunate enough to get to Media Day on the Range got to shoot it, and I got to shoot it on Fully Automatic. If you’ve never had the chance, the gun does tend to drive to the right slightly as the brass is coming out in a steady stream. But the smile that comes with shooting on full auto lasted about 6 hours. It was the most fun I had the entire trip!
Not inexpensive, it is an unusual design, in the action comes back and down, vice straight back, which minimizes the Read More >>

For the better part of a year, all shooters who train on a regular basis have observed the commercial firearm and ammunition supply line dwindle to a trickle, particularly on consumable ammunition. Now in a market anomaly, the US ammunition supply is returning to normal, except for .22 LR.
I went to the 2014 SHOT show in hopes I could figure out some of mystery of ammunition supply, from price to supply. Well I didn’t, except ordinary rumors, war and fear and supply and demand. So like gas prices, no one seems to know–or will ever know. Dear readers, I at least tried.
All was not Read More >>

The old adage, “necessity is the mother of invention,” is probably as true in the battlefield as anywhere. The 6.8MM Remington Special Purpose Cartridge (SPC) was developed by Remington and the special forces community based on the .30 Remington cartridge for a specific need–terminal ballistics at longer ranges than normally encountered by our troops.
The 6.8MM SPC is essentially a mid-range cartridge between the light 5.56 round and heavier 7.62. The length is the same (57.4 mm) as a 5.56 to be adaptable to the M-16 platform and its magazines. In short, un-technical terms, the Read More >>

Every year at SHOT, I have at least three goals. The first is to actually understand the layout of the show and see everything in detail. I always fail. The second is to see some much-awaited introduction, like the Glock 42 in .380 this year; and third locate some piece of new tactical nylon usable for everything I do, from flying a long-haul flights to a new foreign locale to shooting a tactical class in terrible weather.
It is long after the fact when I figure out if the piece is perfect and will be on every flight, such as my Eagle E&E bag that I have had for a number of years (still Read More >>

As many readers of our GST, GSM, and GLBS blogs know, we practice what we preach which is to be educated about the products in the firearms’ marketplace. There is no substitute to being a conscientious gun owner and than knowing what is cutting edge in the market place–and shooting and finding out what works for you in any given situation.
A few months ago, our friends at Elite Defense in Dexter, Michigan opened their warehouse doors--literally under lighting provided by flashlight after a water problem fried their electricity and delayed the backup generator from switching on–so we Read More >>

During the last two years, I had the pleasure of attending the SHOT Show and the Safari Club conventions. There, a friend introduced me to Perazzi USA, their staff, and Perazzi’s fine line of shotguns (and now limited production double rifles) made in Italy, sold through Perazzi USA.
I am a double rifle kind of guy and had limited sporting clays exposure. Nonetheless, I was immediately impressed by their relative newness to and success in the established European gun manufacturing market, steeped in hundreds of years of history. Not many companies can begin to claim to challenge and carve Read More >>